


A Typical Night

by Merfilly



Category: Night Court
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 12:24:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5417009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just the usual fare in Judge Stone's court.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Typical Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shorina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shorina/gifts).



> Shorina, I hope you get treats in your requested fandoms, but thank you for offering this one for me to try my hand in.

It was a typical night, just the average overload of cases that no one had gotten to during the day. Dan was flirting with a hooker, Christine was ignoring it until she couldn't, Harry'd already done three magic tricks, and Bull was laughing at all of the tricks with a child's delight. Roz, at least, was keeping a straight face and acting like she might be a professional while Mac presented the brief on a set of triplets accused of numerous counts of fraud.

"Your Honor, these three men have blatantly run cons and shell games surrounding their shared appearances, and it is in the court's interest to quickly review the facts so we can move on to the rest of the docket and finish the night up," Dan said as he stood on one side of the three men.

"Got a date, Dan?" Christine asked somewhat acerbically. At Dan reaching up to adjust his tie, she rolled her eyes. "Your honor, what has been filed as a case of fraud is merely a vast misunderstanding with the Giovanni brothers," she said, focusing on Harry's face.

That was her mistake, as Harry had propped himself up on both hands, and was just staring at the defendants. She glanced to the three men… and was convinced she was seeing triple. The men were standing posed exactly the same as one another, and every single small motion of a hand or facial muscle was repeated instantly in each of them.

"How do you do that?" Harry asked, which made Dan stop ogling the hooker and turn back to see the three men shrug their shoulders as one, hands coming up, palms facing the ceiling.

"Do what?" they asked as one, perfectly on pitch and cue with each other.

Harry lit up like a child at Christmas, delighted by the unusual physical mimicry that was enhanced by the identical features. "Wowza, that's cool!" he declared, and Dan just groaned, knowing his hope of a quick night so he could get to his night life was falling by the wayside.

"Your Honor, while the Giovanni brothers may have an interesting parlor trick with their mimicry skills, it only goes to solidify the claims against them of willfully defrauding the public by relying on said trick to reinforce their shell games with claiming to be one another to avoid debt payments, alimony, child support, and jury duty!" Dan insisted, reaching for any means to drag Harry back to law, instead of vaudeville.

"What's cool?" the three asked, almost overriding the words of the prosecutor. "Why am I even here?"

"Am I having trouble seeing and hearing tonight, Roz?" Bull asked, in a not quiet-enough voice. "I keep seeing three people but hearing one voice when all of their lips move."

"Just another night at court, Bull," Roz reassured him, refusing to get perturbed at the latest shenanigan of a defendant. Even if the defendant was in triplicate.

"Misters Giovanni," Harry began.

"Got a lisp? Only one person here, Judge," the triplets said, looking at Harry with a touch of disgust.

"Excuse me? Giuliano, Gianni, and Giustino Giovanni, right?" Harry asked as he read the three names off the docket sitting at his elbow.

"No 'and' in there, Judge. You some kind of wacko?" the three asked. "It's Giuliano Gianni Giustino Giovanni, named for all my grandfathers, since two of them were Giannis," the triplets informed him, in unison, with perfectly matched physical movements and facial expressions.

Dan was trying to find something witty to say, while Christine was seeing the easy out in this case.

"Your Honor, I move that this case move to a competency hearing," she said quickly, before Dan could recover.

"I had one of those once. But I'm feeling much better now," came the well-known voice of Buddy, reminding them all he was in court tonight, observing Harry's antics… and encouraging them.

"Wait, you think I'm some kind of nutjob?" The triplets rounded on Christine with their eerie unity, glaring at her. "Your Honor, I don't need no dumb bimbo — "

That was as far as the triplets got, because Harry wasn't in the mood for casual misogyny. "Order in the court, Mister Giovanni," Harry said in a snap of a seriousness. He reviewed the briefing swiftly, then shook his head. "Case remanded to competency hearing per Defense's suggestion. Mac, next case, Dan take your win where you can get it, Bull and Roz, see our unique guest to holding." He banged the gavel to make it official, then turned his eyes toward Buddy. "What do you think?"

"Certifiable. I should know; been there myself," Buddy said as the triplets were escorted away, still protesting, to a man, about the dumb bimbo and whacko judge.

"But you're feeling much better now," Dan said in his most sarcastic tone. Christine managed to bite a laugh back, but Harry grinned.

"How'd you know?!" Buddy asked with a huge smile on his face.

"Moving right along so Dan can hook up with Miss Golightly," Mac said, to begin introducing the next case.

"That's uncalled for," Dan said in a huff of pretended indignity, but he did look back to see if the lady in question was still present, awaiting her turn on the docket.

"I don't even know why you pretend, Dan," Christine said, but she was looking at her notes, and missed his fully innocent face turned her way. Harry didn't, and he laughed a little, as Mac started reading the next case's details. 

"It's okay Danny Boy," the working girl cooed at the prosecutor, looking Christine over with a malicious intent. "She's just got her pantyhose in a twist."

"I'd love to help untwist them," Dan murmured under his breath, heard only by the next defendant that had stepped up between the two lawyers.

"Who wouldn't?" the woman in biker leathers asked after giving Christine a critical once over, before jogging Dan's side with her elbow. He coughed, Harry laughed, and Christine turned a delicate shade of pink.

It was just a normal night in court, with all the usual suspects finding the best out of the worst things in life. As twisted and madcap as it could be, none of the ones working could imagine losing what they had built together.


End file.
